Our work concerns the investigation of the physiologic activity and metabolic formation and degradation of biogenic aldehydes. These compounds are common intermediates in the metabolism of known neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine, serotonin and gamma- aminobutyrate and have recently beem implicated in contributing to the etiology of certain addictive processes. Our work will investigate directly the accumulation of aldehydes and their metabolites in brain and the activities of the enzymes concerned with this metabolism during the process of addiction to ethanol and barbiturates. Enzymatic activity metabolizing aldehydes will also be investigated in relation to production of known hypnotics such as gamma-hydroxybutyrate in situ in brain.